Children: the fountains of youth

One of the unexpected benefits of children is youth. A few years and kids ago, I was playing on the floor with some of them. I went to get up, and I complained to Lisa about my knees being a little creaky. She made some crack about my getting older, and I said, "You shouldn't talk. You've still got 10 years until menopause!" She said, "Oooh! I didn't think of that!" Then we went on to have three more kids. Sure, some days we feel like we're getting too old for this, but most of the time the kids are the reason we stay young(ish) and energetic. We can't slow down, even if we wanted to. And how can we be old with a seventeen-month-old?

My mother-in-law had her first grandchild when she was 48. Lisa is about six years away from that. When Lisa is 48, our youngest will be in second grade, and our oldest will be 22, (and too young to give us grandchildren). We will still be taking kids to music lessons, doing homework, attending sporting events, and keeping up with the current trends in technology and entertainment because of our kids.

I show a show about groups of people who on average live to be 100 or more. One place was in Japan, one in Russia, and one in Greece. There were various differences in diet, exercise, and alcohol consumption, but the one thing they all had in common was that they all kept moving. They were all busy and active. If there is one thing a big family will do for you is it will keep you moving.

Most people tell Lisa and me that we don't look or act our ages. My older sister is 58 and has five kids, and she looks at least ten years younger than she is, too. Maybe it's just good genes, but Lisa and I don't have the same genes.

The Spanish explorer Juan Ponce de Leon is famous for having trudged around Florida, searching for the Fountain of Youth. He never found it. Maybe he should have just stayed at home and spent some quality time with Mrs. de Leon. I'm just saying...